The Hobbit: a couple of movies are coming!

"LOS ANGELES, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Director Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc said on Tuesday they have agreed to make two movies based on the book "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien, ending months of legal wrangling."

That means that for 2010 and 2011 the movies should be on your local cinema :)

Visit David T. Wenzel for more beautiful illustrations.

Best wishes for all of you!

Be prepared: Global warming

The pciture says it all! I got it from a post on "I believe in Advertisement"

It is time for development and growth in Latin America

There is no doubt, for many citizens and lately for many politicians, that closing markets is a way to poorness. Looks to me that Latin America is finding the recipe for success: democracy, open markets, better choices for consumers, more and better education, increasing competitiveness. All against totalitarian leaderships, protectionist regimes and all what Chavez, president of Venezuela, is trying to do.
The first steps towards development will lighten the next steps to the right way. Each time the light will be more powerful and the next steps will be more obvious. The way out of darkness is finally visible for some Latin American countries.
Good samples within the continent will show the right path to other countries and I have finally hope that a more fair society with equal opportunities will arise.

Peru and US signed a "commerce treaty" that improves the condition of Peruvian markets towards a better integration with the worldwide markets of products and investments.
More on: White House Web Site

Kiva: a gratifying way of investing

This is a very interesting and creative way of helping entrepreneurs. Kiva transform you in some kind of "business angel" or "investor" in a way that makes you feel proud, interested in the wellbeing of others and without making you to acquire big risks.
You can lend from 25$ and direct it to a case. Then, when the business starts growing then you receive the money back. I think that's a great way of encourage entrepreneurs to grow, show them a way out of poorness and make them to know that many others care about themselves.
Visit http://kiva.org/ for more information.

What would you fight for?

I have no simple answer to that simple question. But I found a place where you can have some very interesting answers from real people talking about real steps towards improving our future.

The videos I found are from the University of Notre Dam

Fighting for our safety

Here you have links to other resons why to fight for:

1. Fighting for the Environment
2. Fighting to protect our resources
3. Fighting against the odds
4. Fighting for Human dignity
5. Fighting for Peace
6. Fighting disease

And you? what would you fight for?

Creative benefits of protecting the environment

What is good of all this movement related to protecting our planet is that we are finding ways of making "money" out of helping our planet to be better.
Just imagine...

• using more bikes or going to work walking helps the environment and your health.
• avoiding to consume product that are transported from far far away can help local production, traditional products and improve touristic attractions to a small town or location.
• consumers, like you and me, are in constant search for more natural products of high quality. That is for sure a good business opportunity.

Now count it in worldwide level... I think we could make a much better place where to live. Less traffic please! More bikes please! More kids involved in the protection of our environment please!

Are you a web designer? we want to sponsor your work

Yes, exactly that!
We are looking for Web designers interested in developing CSS templates for Web sites. The goal is to sponsor designers and then publish their work for free usage and download.
That is great because actually many designers are already making it like an investment in making their work more known. We believe that it works! It is just needed to see the great WordPress templates for Blogs and many more available on the Internet.
The difference is that we would like to sponsor that work. If interested please give a check on Web Designers Sharing Point.

Greener holidays

Today is Saturday and like most weekends I take the start of the day really slow.
I just finished watching a great program on a travels channel and I'm very impressed with a great concept: "Being environmentally responsible" while traveling. The program's name is "How to holiday greener"
The power of the idea is that communities can use their touristic natural attractions in oder to increase their local production of services, food and crafts. For example: A hotel offers a free tea and cookies for families that arrive using public transportation.
In the town where I live there is a time of the year when the gardens are producing more vegetables and fruits that what is possible to consume (for example apples). But at the same time the supermarkets are selling imported products (apples) that are not as good as local ones, and require a lot of energy for their transportation (airplanes, trucks, cars) generating much more pollution. At least here the tradition helps to preserve some of the excess of fresh products by creating marmalade, juices and other kind of long lasting products.
It makes a lot of sense to trigger the local development of farmers by helping them to produce creative services and add value to what they know to do. Even better if that is a way to make the supermarkets and others to learn to respect the environment and use that concept withing their processes.
You can visit a great Blog about the topic clicking here.

Picture from wockerjabby

Where is the truth?

Many days ago that I'm not posting any good news in my Blog. To tell you the truth I was looking for some substantial positive news but I couldn't find many inspirational information to share.
I was checking the process of growth my country is experiencing but even many good steps happened, many corruption related issues jumped to the public. That is not yet a substantial source of good news. I see economical growth without social growth.
The rest of the world is worried about the effects of climate change. That's important and transcendental and it is a process that will change our future. But there are still many contradictions yet to be solved. So that is not a source of inspirational good news.
Then I wondered if I'm the problem and I'm becoming negative. Or maybe I lost my sense of positivity.
I found that I had some challenges to solve in the office. That kind of "human" style problems that are sucking so much energy in order to be solved with responsibility and respect. I needed to charge my batteries.
While recharging I received a message from an old friend of mine. I learned that she found her own truth and she is happy and free. She fought for many years and she achieved it! That came to me like a fast load of pure and shining positivity.
Today I have started thinking about "the truth" and the source of being positive. I think that the personal truth is within the process of learning about ourselves, from our own experiences and from others. That means, in my perspective, that people that is not looking for the truth or that is not curious about which is the "trick" to lead a successful life is definitely going to live far from risks, changes and great success. They can live in peace of course. Those are probably persons that think they know the truth or at least they are satisfied with their own truth and they don't want to risk it introducing changes, they stopped learning about life. That's fine for many and probably good for society. For me not.
I think that positivity comes from observing the routes our live takes while looking for a personal truth; for preparing a legacy. That legacy should be a map for others to see where a person found wrong paths, how many times was needed to fix the route, change direction, create a new way and in many cases where that person treasured his or her own truth. That is a map not a recipe book. There are hundreds of other ways and specially because not all start the journey from the same place and of course because the destination is a secret.
That is for sure a message of hope, because at the end it is not important to arrive, it is important to look for the way to, what you think is, the destination. It is important that others can see which your truth is, which are the paths you walked. No matter who you are or what you own; it is important the legacy your life will bring after looking for innovative ways to achieve happiness, success, truth, freedom or whatever motivates you.
If all that is true then being positive is possible like a recognition of what we discovered until now.

The following is the sample of a guy that went out of the school, had problems with the police and that is certainly a source of inspiration for many.



The picture is from Jparise

A book MEME

Actually I don't understand so well this thing specially because the word "meme" sounds to me very childish. But now I can understand it better.. so click here if you want to expand your vocabulary :)

Total number of books: I have many books and that is one of the best things I like to spend my money on. I have some 100 books at home in Peru but at home in Slovenia I must have some 250 more. From science, religion, history, technology, design, minerals, spirits, crystal healing, to novels, visual guides and of course many classics. One day I will count them. I have also some 20 audiobooks.
Last book read: I can't imagine that this one is a difficult question! Actually I'm reading many books at the same time... but It must be a finished one... ok, let me see. I have 4 books I finished reading recently:

1. The Children of Hurin, J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a bit difficult to read book but talks about many interesting human values from the negative experience of a person living in a constant contradiction.
2. Ideas that changed the world, Felipe Fernandez Armesto. It is a really interesting collection of chronologically organized ideas. The secuency of their presentation is one of the most important things on the book because it helps the reader to understand the "need" of having that idea in a particularly special part of our History. It helps to understand how the Human is and how we invented many "ideas" to facilitate our understanding of the world and life.
3. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. This one I started many months ago but I finished the last part no so long ago. It is a great book that explains the intricate and complex mind we have. The way of explaining philosophy using a motorcycle trip is a great idea. This is the kind of book that can change the way we live... you must read it ;)
4. The Last Elf, Silvana De Mari. A fantasy book full of innocence and messages of hope. The perfect book for a long plane trip. The story is so simple to read that makes it irresistible! I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished and I read it again because it holds many beautiful messages.

Last book bought: The tipping point. I'm already at the half of the book. It is super interesting and I'm using it to try to motivate my coworkers to think how to make our sales more effective. It explains about the little things that are important in order to make a message to ring in the audience. I can send many advertising messages but not necessary get answers; this books helps me to find that I don't need so many advertising messages, it is better to think on who is key to receive the message.
I would like to mention other book that is very interesting because it is made to tell you in what you are good! Its name is Strength Finder.
Five meaningful books: They are not in order of interest or importance and please don't try to think that I'm comparing them. They are just books that made me think and get interesting conclusions.

1. The Bible
2. The Zahir, Paulo Coelho
3. The Sacred Depths of Nature by Ursula Goodenough
4. Night, Elie Wiesel
5. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Thanks Matt for making me think more about my beloved books! that was great!

Saving one of the most emblematic natural sanctuaries in the world

There is a wonderful place in our Planet called "Candamo". That place belongs to a national park called "Bahuaja Sonene". Peruvian Government is starting to think to use 209 thousand hectares to establish facilities for researching the existence of crude oil; going against the advise of the opinion of the INRENA, institution in charge of the protected areas in Peru.

• There is a web site where you could express your opinion. In english you could go to: this link.
• In Spanish you can visit this web site.
• here you can see the map with the area they pretend to destroy.
  

Solar observatory in Peru

Well it is true that lately I'm writing more about Peru. There is a reason, this is a country where the bad news were each day filling the newspapers and lately there are some good news coming from there and that are related to "culture" and Human heritage.
This time the University of Yale announced on their web site:
"... Archeologists from Yale and the University of Leicester have identified an ancient solar observatory at Chankillo, Peru as the oldest in the Americas with alignments covering the entire solar year, according to an article in the March 2 issue of Science." You can read the article here.
In the first image you can see the fortified stone temple called Chankillo.
Bellow you see an image explaining how the solar observatory was used.

Joint Statement by the Government of Peru and Yale University

As mentioned in a previous post Peru and Yale University signed an agreement. You can read the "news release" from Yale's site.
Here a paragraph I think is important:
"This understanding represents a new model of international cooperation providing for the collaborative stewardship of cultural and natural treasures."

A new Blog for small business

Hello! Well... hot to say it. I don't know if it is actually a good new for you but I wanted to let you know that I have another Blog! yes but that one is not about good news is about small business!

For me it is a good new :) because I will be trying to invite many interesting people from many countries in the world. I will try to get their contribution there with the goal to share some of our knowledge, experiences, mistakes and good moments!

I hope to have many members from the Small Business Specialists Community, som Partner Area Leads more known as PALS and more specialists interested into share information.
If you feel like visiting it please click here and you will be able to read for free the very first 2 posts!!! :)

Hope for Pakistan's children

An interesting video with hopeful message:

Fujimori goes back to Peru

I was thinking to not write about it because is a "political" topic and involve corruption and human rights violations. But actually the reason why I want to write about it is because the good news is that after 7 years hiding from the justice Fujimori, Peruvian ex president was extradited from Chile and sent to Peru to answer for his mistakes. Why is this so special? It is a unique case in our history; Alberto Fujimori is the first president that will be judged in his own country. That means a lot! from now on there is precedent for a case like that and now on will be more complicated for corrupt authorities to fly away and avoid responsibilities.

More on CNN

More on BBC

Yale will return thousands of Inca relics to Peru

That's a great thing!
Universities are of course the center piece for research. In poor countries like Peru the foreign institutions are even more important to preserve the heritage of our ancestors. But I also think that the cultural property must be where it belongs, in the right time.
The problem is that sometimes the place where the relics are discovered can't offer the warranties needed for their preservation. Is then when civilization should take place and the interests of humanity should be the only valid argument.
The agreement between Peru and Yale is a good sample of it. After long time of negotiations they have arrived to a situation where students, scholars and humanity will get the clear benefit.
More than 4000 pieces will return to their native land. You can read more in BBC News.

Recognizing that we are "one" using films

Today is an interesting day. After looking hard for good news i found the effort and results of some persons trying to organize a global day to celebrate the good. A day when to show or different perspectives, sensitivity and realities. A day for persons with young souls. I'm talking about the Pangea Day.


It is a great idea and all independent film makers can join to share their opinions. Check the samples, get inspired and if you can spread the word. I think it is a genuine wish to change the world for better.
You can see the explanation of the idea from the right person in the following video: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/55

Save energy while surfing the web!

Today in the morning I received a message from Boris where he showed me a very interesting site with a great idea.

The name of the site is Blackle and it is a search engine based on Google that included a very simple concept: instead of using white background they use a black one. So what is so interesting here?

Well, you know that the screen is a very "energy expensive" device. It is expensiver when showing or displaying white colors, it just uses more energy. So if you browse on webs with dark backgrounds actually you are saving energy.

• You can read more in ther web site.
• You can get more info in WikiPedia.

Thanks Boris!

Educative videos

One of the great things of our times is the possibility to get a lot of great and valuable information for free using the Internet. That motivates many persons to use the chance to make posts on blogs to make faster the transfer of that information.
I just discovered 180 videos posted by National Geographic that I think are really worth to see.

We live in a wonderful world

How many talents are hidden within the routines of our life?

How to help the earthquake victims if you are not in Peru?

Well, here I found some places where you could visit to donate:

1. Red Cross: (English)This one accepts payments from 5 US$ and is good because all credit cards are accepted.
2. Direct relief international: Here you can also use online payments.
   
3. Caritas Spain: (Spanish) This one is not using online payments but there is information on accounts where to deposit money.
4. E-Wong: (Spanish) This is a online store for food and other supplies. They accept Visa credit cards and they prepared special packages for helping the victims of the earthquake.

Here there is a post with much more information than mine: click here
Please only make donations to organizations you trust.

--- UPDATE ----
Care is now also offering help and receiving donations from their web site.

Peruvians helping eachother

All the media covered information about the earthquake in Peru and that's the reason why I will not explain about it. Even thousands of persons are still in pain and recovering from physical and emotional distress there are many wonderful things going on that are important to talk about.

First of all I'm Peruvian but I live in Slovenia. Many people called me or contacted me to show they care and to ask for my family. I was very happy for that and also for being able to report that my family and friends are scared but healthy.

After the shock and communication problems the information started to arrive to the media, and like that I started to realize the magnitude of the disaster. But at the same time 10ths of messages, posts in forums, emails, videos on YouTube started to appear. Yes, the telephone network (Managed by Telefonica) crashed but the internet was working! Hundreds of families started using internet technologies to communicate. The Peruvian newspapers online offered tools for communicating and connecting members of the family living in different areas. Internet is definitively one very important media of communication capable of saving lives and release distress.

After all that I was asking to myself how to help? I hadn't any clue but it looks like many Peruvians living abroad started making the same questions and many of them contacted me to join their efforts. Wow! I didn't know there are so many hidden leaders all around the world! Soon many companies offered themselves to collect money and send it to bank accounts opened all around the world for the purpose of helping to the victims. Now the Red Cross, Caritas and many other organizations are collecting resources. A connected World started to organize itself to help. That is wonderful!

Talking with my mother I found out that in Lima, there is a mass movement for offering help. The municipalities are receiving donations, the private sector is organizing their employees help and providing additional resources, the stores are collecting founds from each of their customers and many trucks are going each day full of good intentions and brotherhood. In the meantime the political organizations are solving problems in the infrastructure and security. They are facing challenges and making mistakes but it is also true that they are reacting fast and focusing in what matters the most. Individuals are discovering that each one can help, that each one is powerful enough to organize support activities. It is great to see that the people stops making their routines to help.

In the "Plaza de Armas" or main square in Lima more than 500 persons started donating blood. Thats great but it is event greater because tourists participated as well! authorities, members of the army and police department helped and gave the good sample.
Thanks! to all the heroes that are investing their time to help so much. Heroes from all the world and from many different nationalities that took the opportunity to make a positive mark on our history.

Nature is wild and powerful and we, Humans, are experts to adapt. There was never a moment in history with so much people living and using our planet's resources, we need to start thinking where is best to live to avoid nature's dangerous behavior.

Yahoo Green!

Yahoo green is one more great idea of Yahoo! There is a calculator that will tell you how much CO2 you are producing and it also helps you to plan how to reduce that. The only problem is that you need to choose a North American state, thats a problem if you live somewhere else...
There is really good information and facts and also a filter of the questions and answers from Yahoo Answers. Don't loose the take action section, there you can see creative ways making our planet better; I like the advise about cleaning chemicals based on petroleum.

The right colors

Well, once I've heard that there are no wrong colors, and I think that's right. Actually what we need to learn is how to use the colors and play with them. But colors are part of our live and part of what we are able to control, at least this is what we would like.
We use colors to paint our house, to decorate our home, to dress, we define which color we want on our car and at work we use colors for our advertisement, letters, logos, messages.
Well, in case you would like to use good color schemes I advise you to use a great tool called: Kuler. You can use it online or download it to your computer. There are some great technological characteristics that are on the back of the tool but this is not the right place to talk about it.
The most interesting thing is that now you can get fantastic color schemes for everything you can ever imagine. Just give a check on Kuler!
You want a good sample? fine, here you have a professional using Kuler for his business. See the images. His name is Andrew Martin.
If you wish to have it on your computer then first you need to install Adobe Air and then download and install the Kuler Desktop.

Ask.com is greener

I just saw on News.com that Ask.com is changing their equipment (servers and computers) to more efficient machines able to save 30% in energy. But not only that, they are also planting trees like part of an initiative called "Plant a tree for me".
Actually that is a great think to take in consideration the next time you will buy a computer: how much energy does it spend (fully loaded). Looking for more efficient equipment will help saving resources and will motivate the industry to produce more and more eco-friendly machines.
You can read the article clicking here.

My first article in "Small Business IT, does IT Really Matter?

Since the microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver I've met very interesting persons, one of them is Stuart Crawford, he is the owner of the Blog: "Small Business IT, deos it Really Matter?". He kindly invited me to participate and write some articles there. So my first article is already published!
For all of you interested in small business I think Stuart's Blog is a good source of information.

Quotation: fixed!

On a previous post I mentioned a quotation that was not exactly right. So after searching and searching I found it within the lines of a great book named "The Heart of a Leader". There Ken Blanchard comments this quotation by Ichek Adizes:
"Managing only for profit is like playing tennis with your eye on the scoreboard and not on the ball"

Good news for small business and Microsoft small business specialists

Some days ago I have posted a message regarding the Microsoft PAL denomination. Since then many things are going on and the PAL community. I must say that I am one of the PALS and that is why I feel the need to share more information about it with you.

If you are the owner of a small business

1. There is a group of qualified companies, all of them are Microsoft partners, ready to help you finding solutions to your business challenges regarding information technologies.
2. The group of small business specialists (SBS) are not necessary small businesses. There is a great range of SBS and most of them with very interesting expertise.
3. You can find solutions and partners visiting the Microsoft Solution Finder. Click here. First you will see a page like the first image, after selecting the country and typing in the search space "small business specialist" you will be able to select partners or solutions. In the section of partners you will see the complete list.
   

Above: Picture 1

Above: Picture 2

If you are a Microsoft Small Business Specialist

The PALS are actually for helping you. They are very active community leaders and actually they have the responsibility of taking your feedback to Microsoft.
Actually Microsoft is very concerned about improving the capacity of SBS for making better business and attending each time better the requirements of their customers. If you have suggestions you just need to contact the PAL in charge of your area or region and that's it! Find your local PAL here.
You can also listen to a really good interview from Vlad... it is actually a "Vladcast". There you will listen 2 Microsoft Partner Area Leads Vijay Riyait and Dean Calvert talking about the PAL program goals and objectives.

Are you looking for success?

"The accomplishment of an aim or purpose", that is the definition of "success".
The fact is that defining success in the case of a person is very difficult. And it is even a bit confusing because many times it is misunderstood and related to economical prosperity.
There are many known painters that lived poor lives and achieved fame and worldwide recognition years after their death. Where they successful? I think they were successful in some things and unsuccessful in others; maybe they had really bad relationships with their family members and even with the community.
Of course there are persons that live without economical problems but live in deep depression and personal distress. Many of them with the feeling of not really making something meaningful.
In other cases I see persons that just live the day and are not complicating their lives thinking about success; in richness or poorness they find the time to enjoy and feel success. But they can have also deep problems like all the rest.
So, after that long introduction I think I need to make some kind of conclusion.Following are my ideas:

1. A successful person is the one that reaches during a life time many of his or her aims. The person that is able to find that all the mistakes and hard times shaped his or her life and helped to find solutions according to his or her values.
2. Small successes can make a person to recover trust, therefore find bigger moments of success. Failure should be considered, like may persons know, a component of what we call experience. Replace "I failed" with "Now I know how to avoid that problem".
3. Constant effort, creativity and perseverance are definitively a good way to reach success. Sometimes life is too short but if the efforts are focused on the right direction, it is possible that later your effort could mean success for people that believed in your leadership.

The good news: there is no "quantity" related to your success. What I try to say is that it is not important starting with big aims. Starting with simple things, like getting a nice smile from a friend, coworker or just any person on the street could become your first step in the long way to a meaningful life. Don't worry so much on the result, focus on each step, might happen that on the way you will find that your aims are changing. Enjoy the process. Success will come in the right moment, for you or for a future generation.

"Feedback is the breakfast of champions" - Ken Blanchard
"Success is a journey, not a destination." - Ben Sweetland
There is a quotation that I can't find... but says something like that: "you should not play tennis focused on the score, you should play tennis focused on the ball" (If some of you finds the real one please drop a comment)

Good news for "idea makers"

I have to admit that B4Contact, the company where I work, is very creative. We have some times more great ideas that what we can achieve. Of course a good business model for each idea could help a lot to find investors and that is what we are thinking to do.
So if you would like to find investors I would like to help you in your research. Here you have some web sites of interesting companies looking for people like you!

• http://www.discoverybeach.co.uk/ http://i5invest.com/
• http://www.catt.at/i2.html
• http://www.guykawasaki.com/
• http://www.atlasventure.com/
• http://www.gamma-capital.com/
• http://www.ariadnecapital.com/

Some of the sites listed above are also sharing information about how to make business plans and other requirements.

"It's not what you know or who you know, but who knows you" -Susan RoAne

I'm processing all the information from the Microsoft WPC and I found something very interesting that could help you to manage contacts and build partnerships. It is called the "The art of schmoozing" made by Guy Kawasaki: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/02/the_art_of_schm.html

I'm sure you will enjoy reading it!

Some good news on my side

Some days ago I had the chance to know the city of Denver. It was an amazing experience and in the following lines I will try to explain the reason why.

Some weeks before the trip I received a new denomination from Microsoft and it means some responsibilities I must fulfill. That denomination is named : PAL or Partner Area Lead. Thanks to it I received the opportunity to go to the Worldwide Partner Conference and the Small Business Symposium, both of them took place in Denver.

So now I am officially a PAL and that is the first good new because it means that I should help Microsoft partners that are certified like small business specialists to get more success. Part of my role is to improve communication between them and Microsoft and of course to generate a community that will be able to improve our knowledge, increase our opportunities and for instance make better business.

I am not the only PAL in the World, there are something like 20 or 30 (PALs please confirm me the number). Each one leads one special area or region. And I'm for the moment the only one in Slovenia. Here you can read a press release in Slovenian language about it.

I'm very proud because it means that B4Contact is doing a good job for the small business sector and that makes stronger my wish to be even better and achieve better results.

Other good news come from the experience itself of being in the symposium and the conference. I never saw so many people from each different part of the planet so motivated to know people and make business. But... good people! great professionals some of them with long experience and successful careers. That means that to get in touch with great people and open great possibilities is not so hard. What could be hard is to be consistent between what we wish to offer and what we can offer to them.

I have a really good feeling about some of the persons I have met from South Africa, Canada, Uk, Australia, Germany, Serbia, US, New Zealand, Colombia and Chile. And it happens the same with some of the Slovenian persons that I had the chance to meet because of the conference. Microsoft's guys were also great! and I'm specially thankful for the Slovenian team involved in the event.

My enthusiasm became bigger on my first day of "work" after the trip when B4Contact's team showed me the progress in their tasks and the results from their activities. Now we are ready to make our best in this second half of the year.

This world is becoming smaller and smaller. The possibilities are increasing and the chances for our children are improving. We need to empower the small company like the engine for creativity and progress, no matter where. If you think that small companies will change the world please write me some message and lets talk more about the topic.

Is it good to say I love you?

Interesting. I was checking the statistical information about visitors to my Blog and I discovered that many people is coming to look for an article regarding "different ways to say I love you" I posted some months ago. So what is interesting about that?

The interesting thing is that I see many people is looking for "the concept of love", "creative ways of saying I love you" and even asking to Google for information about if "is it good to say I love you".
That kept me thinking for a good while. Actually I'm not the right person to answer that question but for sure I would like to express my opinion.

I see that many people created a strong feeling of responsibility to the phrase "I love you". So strong feeling that it's reason for the "listener" to feel like a new kind of compromise is ready to start after listening to it. That is truly something that captures my attention. In my case I prefer to say "I love you" when I feel it, not when I think it is appropriate; freely and with the intense wish to make the "listener" aware that someone is expressing something real from the heart.

Then, why is that strange responsibility on the back of that phrase? I think it is because the "listener" could be exposed to distress in case that "love" wasn't as expected.
In any case, in my experience the "listener" would always get into distress for a false expectation of what love means or what love should produce. And in many cases the most romantic moments of my life were when I was a young student or a young adult. Exactly when the concept of love is being built. That means, in my opinion, that it's impossible to try to add a sense of responsibility on the expression of love when it comes in moments when we are learning about our feelings. (I think I'm still learning about that... aren't you?)

So... Is it good to say I love you? in my opinion it is more than good. Of course assuming that is a sincere expression. Why is it good? because it gives you freedom and lets the other know that someone cares. The consequences can be many: from a new couple, to a broken one; but that is freedom, it lets you know how the reality looks like and helps you to decide your next step.

What about other kind of love? like expressing love to your friends, family members... I think that expressing feelings is one of the most powerful ways to make of your life something worth living. There a re many ways of expression. I like to say to Andre and Marko, my two sons, that I love them and sometimes they answer me in the same way :)

To my family I show them my love by being in contact constantly and by being interested on their normal activities and the development of their lives. Some times I surprise them with really little details. Sometimes I express my love in the incorrect way and it gives me some headaches as well!

Is it possible to hurt somebody by expressing sincere love? I think that yes. Because sometimes we feel something and then we can change our attitude and hurt. I think I don't know anybody that wasn't hurt because of love. Those hurts I think are part of the experience we all need to have; like that we learn what is realistic and what is some other thing. Thinking a bit deeper... just by the fact of expressing something we will have the unwanted chance to hurt somebody.

I really hope that all of us will learn to express more our love to the others and to the things we are doing. That would be a truly gooood new for this Blog!

Here some quotations from St. Thomas Aquinas:

• “The things that we love tell us what we are.”


• “Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.”


• “Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine”

You can go to Yahoo Answers and try to find something about the topic. I found something interesting: click here (It doesn't mean I agree with something there... just food for thought)

Stories from a small planet

I was reading Guy Kawasaki's Blog and I found an interesting post about "Frontlineworld"
You can visit the web site directly by clicking here. It is about a collection of videos and texts talking about entrepreneurs from all the different regions of our planet.
They define themselves like that:
"Developed by FRONTLINE producers in conjunction with public television stations KQED San Francisco and WGBH Boston, FRONTLINE/World is a national public TV series that turns its lens on the global community, covering countries and cultures rarely seen on American television. "

Thinking about "hope"

The concept of "hope" is giving rounds around my head for the past weeks. That's not necessary gooood news but it could be if the idea is helpful for you, so why not to share it?

According to the dictionary from Answers.com "Hope" is:

• "To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment"
  
  
• "To look forward to with confidence or expectation"

In many cases, when asking myself about what motivates people, I'm finding myself within the territory of "hope".

• Marketing: The advertisement shows us lifestyles that some of us would "hope" to live.
  
  
• Job: The possibility of learning more, growing professionally or getting recognized are constantly beating, telling us that exists hope that it could happen.
  
• The "bad": We learn constantly of bad things going on. They capture our attention, that rings the alarm and in many cases we feel bad about it. The hope for improving and avoiding the same bad things to happen motivates individuals to help and contribute to change.
  
• The un-known: We hope so much to understand what we don't know that we create our own explanations: the ocean was full of great monsters... better to stay close to the coast; We thought that the starts and planets were moving around the earth, etc.
  
• The existence: We hope to live for ever. We wish to not loose so many great things that the future could bring. We hope at least to live longer to be witness. Even we hope that life exist after our material end.
  
• Love: We hope to be loved and that makes the bigger changes on many individual stories. Persons changing their countries, letting their careers in the past. Just because of the hope for the experience of great and warm love.

There are many other things that we hope about. That might be a reason why the Human is known like an explorer. That's why some persons say that the mystery is the key to keep interesting relationships.

If we understand that, then could be easier to understand how to motivate people to succeed.

2 leaders @ the same time

I'm a fan of technology and I work with products offered by Microsoft and lately Apple.
I personally admire persons that are able to change the world with their ideas and I think they are a source of inspiration and hope.
There is a ton of things to learn from world wide known leaders like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Each one of them with a different perspective and each one of them still wiling to reach their dreams.
Here a set of 8 videos from an interview to both of them during the D5:

1 of 8



2 of 8



3 of 8



4 of 8



5 of 8



6 of 8



7 of 8



8 of 8

Al Gore talk in TED

In a previous post I got a few comments about Al Gore. So I found this video on the TED web site and I think is really great:

More places where to find good news

Today I received an email with the advise to check this web site: Gimundo. It is a wel designed web site with daily information and good news! the same motivation than this Blog.
Gimundo offers a daily newsletter and it is free.

Live Earth

This one is a link provided by Andrej. There you can find a lot of information about a "green lifestyle" and also about some concerts that will have place on the 07.07.2007

Inspired ideas for a sustainable future

I'm still having interesting moments while checking the TED videos I've posted about some days ago. This time is about "Inspired ideas for a sustainable future". I advise you to take the time to check it until the end...



You can visit his web site: www.Worldchanging.com

Investing in sustainability

A few minutes ago I was reading an interview with Al Gore and David Blood. I think is a good thing to read because it shows the tendency to seriously take the our environment like a good strategy to keep business going forward.

TED, ideas worth spreading

This is one of the best news I have to share with you. I found a list of fantastic resources in video format from the TED conference.

You can find all the Themes making click here. Each theme includes many videos, that you can download. The videos are presentations from many of the greatest specialists of our time.
TIP: download all of them! you will make a collection of great topics, great speakers, great samples, great motivation and of course great presentations.

Bellow is one video sample that is interesting and funy from David Pogue:



"The Age of reason" is the core of a presentation from Julia Sweeney:

What's the big idea contest!

If you have some great idea to protect the environment now you have the chance to share it in video format to win an award.
Visit the web site of the competition for more information.
Good luck!

Wind Power explained

I found in National Geographic's web site a very interesting animation explaining about how the wind turbines work.
Did you know that is better to have the wind turbines in zero altitude to produce more electricity? Even in the high mountains there is a lot of wind, the air is lighter.
Learn more.

Going green

"Going green" is the title of a post made by Silke Fleischer about an initiative for using bikes to go to work and the importance of companies to include more environment friendly policies.
It is interesting specially because includes many useful links and because I see she also works on other projects, apart of her product management for Adobe Captivate, and I think that shows and proves that leaders always find time for all what they think is important.
I conclude then that helping the protection of our environment is a good opportunity to make good use of our time, apart of the daily work and responsibilities at home, showing interest on improving our quality of life is definitively a way of becoming community leaders.

Colors don't lie

I was checking the Blog of "Pink Ginger" and I found many interesting articles. One of them is about colors and how we can rate as romantic partner :)
I wanted to share this like a good new because each of the colors includes many good things about people... and it is funny to read.
Check: Colors don't lie.

Cosmos is now online!

Science is a word that always captured my attention. And one of the best sources of it, when I was a child, was a TV series called Cosmos, Carl Sagan's Cosmos.
It was a great surprise to find many of them online.

Chapter 1:



Chapter 2:



Chapter 3:



Chapter 4:



Chapter 6



Chapter 7



Chapter 8



Chapter 9



Chapter 10



Chapter 11



Chapter 12



Chapter 13

Peru, Mucho gusto!

Peru is certainly a beautiful country. Being far from it, I'm constantly missing the Peruvian food.
This time I want to share 2 good news: Promperu, the organization in charge of promoting the image of my country is making a great work and the second one is that now you have the answer to "darling, where to go to eat?" :)

I found other good video:



Find more in http://www.peru.info/perueng.asp

Is your brain like a muscle? - Growth or fixed mindset

- Carol Dweck: A book about the topic: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- From Standrford Magazine: According to a Stanford psychologist, you’ll reach new heights if you learn to embrace the occasional tumble.

Good news from the music industry... well from EMI and Apple

I've heard the news yesterday but I didn't got the right meaning... after reading Pogue's post about it I got it crystal clear:
"...OK, my jaw just hit the floor. This just in: Apple has persuaded EMI, one of the Big Four record companies, to offer its digital catalog of music without copy protection, starting in May."
Click here to read the article... as he said: the news are like music to your ears

Making good news after recycling

There is no doubt for me that US leaders are questionable and instead of peace they are bringing insecurity to our warmed planet. But it is also true that within the US it's possible to find great samples and sources of inspiration.
This time is about a sister and a brother making real a dream that helps soldiers to call home. The success of their effort is outstanding because their energy and creativity made possible to deliver more than 400000 pre-paid telephone cards! Read the article on News.com
They have raised 1 million dollars for helping US troops to call home!!
Visit their web site for more info.

This is a good new for the near future

Apple made a big announcement when showing the iPhone to the market. Jobs talked about a new technology for "multi touch" screens that are included in the iPhone and that would be a revolution for the user interface.
Then I've read a post from David Pogue, where I found the link to the video you can see above. Very interesting.
If you would like to go deeper into the multi touch screens you will want to visit http://multi-touchscreen.com/

How to save enrgy and use it later?

That is a question I have since some weeks ago. And like act of magic there is an answer about saving wind power for later usage! yes... how can someone store wind power and use it later?
Simple: compressing the air. Please read the article in News.com
There are a couple of places in the world where compressed air is being used for clean energy production: Iowa and in Germany.

Faroe islands

The Faroe islands are located between Iceland and Norway. I found a very interesting article and video that made me remember about the importance of nature for our souls. On the video one man said "in New York you can be alone".. or something like that, when the journalist asked him about the lonely place where he is living. How we feel is a personal issue, it is not related necessarily to where we are; it must be a state of mind and the way we use our time.
It is great to see that our planet still hosts many places full of the energy that the nature offers to all of us. Places where the knowledge and wisdom are far from the cities.

Little dreams

On of the topics I like to read about is about the life of very known artists and their heritage. This time my curiosity about Phil Collins gave me the good surprise of finding a web site from the Little Dreams Foundation. He drives it with her wife Orianne.
“The Foundation aims to make dreams come true for children between the ages of 4 and 16 who have a special gift or talent in athletics or the arts.”...
So if you know some dreamy and young kid now you know she or he have one more chance to make a dream come true!

Biking for saving

We all have some idea of the benefits of using a bike to go to work or just to move within the town. We know that is good exercise and that helps protecting the environment.
But checking a bit deeper I found some interesting facts:

1. If you ride a bike each day for 3 Km for 20 days a month you will save more than US$ 400 per year. Check the calculator.
2. You can burn 80 calories per day (The equivalent to one egg) if you ride a bike for 3KM and your weight is around 75 Kg. Check the calculator.
   
3. For 4.8 Km a car would need to consume 7 dozens of eggs, a loaded bus would require 2 dozens eggs per each person it carries, a walking person would require 3 eggs. In bike is only needed 1 egg and a half.
4. If you cycle 30 minutes every day, after a year you would have burnt around 44,000 calories or 550 eggs!
5. 61% of all car journeys are less than 8 kilometers.
   
6. Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity while bicycling.

Do you have more reasons? please share them with me.

It is sure.. we all want to live in peace

Vida Toš, one of the members of B4Contact's family sent me an email message with a great site I would like to share with you. It is called "Stop the Clash of Civilizations".
Check the video they advertise and if interested you could go to their web site and express your support to their cause.

Congratulations to "Ciclonudista Peru"

Like most Sundays I enjoy reading the news and the interesting articles from my favorite Peruvian newspaper (it is in spanish).
For my surprise the normally conservative society where I was born had a very especial event. A group of cyclists decided to protest peacefully against the chaotic traffic in Lima. The one responsible for 3 dead cyclists from the beginning of this year.
Their protest was to ride their bikes naked. Yes... naked. But after a successful negotiation with the authorities of the municipality of Miraflores they transformed this protest in a colorful display of happiness and democracy.
And the reaction? very positive, adults and kids went to see how a group of persons use their right to protest. Many families where smiling at the nudist group. But the democracy was the common topic!